Bush emerges from seclusion to plot out life

Ex-president to build library, write memoir

April 11, 2009|By Peter Baker The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Condoleezza Rice will be there. So will Karen Hughes and Dan Bartlett and Michael Gerson. And George W. Bush himself.

The old gang is getting back together next week in Dallas for a reunion of sorts, the Bush team's first since leaving the White House. On tap is a dinner with the former president and a daylong discussion of the future George W. Bush Policy Institute.

Barely 80 days after turning the Oval Office over to President Barack Obama, Bush is emerging from seclusion to begin his post-presidency. He has started giving speeches, joined an off-road bicycle club, thrown out the first pitch at the Texas Rangers' home opener and scheduled a trip to China to speak at an economic forum.

More important, Bush is trying to map out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. Relatively young, at 62, and in good health, he plans to build a library, write a memoir and make some money, but he is also eager to use his time to promote the policies he cared about most while in the White House - and to help define his legacy.

More than most former presidents, Bush faces a daunting challenge on that front. After the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina and the financial crisis, he left office with some of the lowest poll numbers on record and may find it difficult rewriting the narrative of his tenure. But other former presidents have managed to burnish their reputations - such as Richard M. Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton - after leaving office.

As for his legacy, Bush otherwise plans to tackle the most controversial moments of his presidency head on, both in his memoirs and in his library, aides said. At the library, instead of a traditional chronological format, he plans to present his presidency through 20 consequential decisions he made, most notably his decision to lead an invasion of Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein. And instead of a full biography, his book will focus on a dozen key moments in his life, from quitting drinking to picking Dick Cheney as his vice president.

The George W. Bush Foundation has chosen an architect and is raising the first of $300 million it needs to build the library and museum on 25 acres provided by Southern Methodist University. The groundbreaking is scheduled for November 2010, with hopes of opening in early 2013. The foundation declined to disclose how much has been raised, saying fund-raising is going well but has been constrained by the economy.